The mountains sloped down and opened up into a massive valley that was completely at capacity with the town below, damaged in some spots though it was. Once, the place would have been a marvel of the world, stretching from humble beginnings out into unending shopping districts, entertainment spots, and most notably, the biggest guild hall in all of Fiore.
The districts remained. The Empire could always use more of that, more people coming in and spending money. But in place of the several entertainment spots was a single building built upon the broken back of the strongest one left standing, and the rest were transformed into great black towers that shone a spotlight down at night to ensure curfew was met. And the guild hall?
Nothing more than a sunken ruin.
Still, the town was marvelous in its scope, in its ability to make one completely miss the splendid mountains around it, to have them forget they were in a pit of the world and remind them of their pride in where they lived. A grand road sloped down the mountain toward the town, along with smaller, more minute, roads leading through the mountain for various hill tribes to come in for trading.
Waves upon waves of nostalgia came on strong as Sting could only find the strength to utter, "Well. We're back."
"I hardly realized it," Rogue said. "Until I recognized some of the woodlands."
"Where that old bag of shit Jiemma used to train us," Sting said, softly.
Much of the forest had already been patched up after Jiemma had Sting, Rogue, Orga, and Minerva constantly trained away from town. Much though Jiemma probably didn't care for the well-being of others, he didn't want to impose unwarranted costs on the guild. It'd hamper their progress toward being the best.
"It looks just like how we left it," Rogue said.
Sting eyed the black watch towers. Well-manned.
"For the most part," Sting said.
Rogue side-eyed Sting. "Having second thoughts?"
"Considering a way in."
Their paths were few, minimal. Sting didn't get to know the town all that well, because most of his time was spent lounging in the guild hall, training, or coming in and out of the main gates hailed as a hero.
He, and Rogue, were the shining stars of Sabertooth, the once-greatest guild in all of Fiore. The strongest Dragon Slayers, the ones who accelerated Sabertooth's rise all the way to the top. Why would they ever not be championed all around the place?
It would likely have been largely the same if they'd returned to the town as Captains of the Dragon Division. The citizens would have to regard them as heroes.
Flags of the Twilight Empire hung off dozens of buildings. Modernity was coming for Gazania, wedging its way into the easy life so many had in town. The Empire wasn't merely present in the town; in much the way that Sabertooth once proved to be its lifeblood, the Empire took its spot.
Of course, Sting and Rogue had a great deal, inadvertently, to do with that.
"Can you sneak us through if we get closer?" Sting asked.
"We'll be recognized right away," Rogue said.
Everyone in town knew their faces. Though it'd been a little over three years, Sting and Rogue would not be so easily forgotten. No great wizard of Sabertooth would be.
"We'll figure it out," Sting said.
Thus far, they'd traveled off of many beaten paths.
If Frosch and Lector were anywhere, it wouldn't be on the main roads. They'd be hiding, sneaking around to not be caught. Kagura would never allow them to travel so openly.
He closed his fist. Kagura. The one who took and held the Exceeds from Sting and Rogue, the one who stared them all down at the Grand Magic Games.
Fairy Tail's return precipitated all of this insanity that led to Sting and Rogue's exile…but Kagura had a major part in all of it, too. She was constantly a thorn in the Empire's side. And that thorn came to latch in Sting and Rogue.
"Come on," Sting said.
Together, they made their way down the mountain, clinging to the woods and forest's heavier coverage before Rogue placed his hand on Sting's shoulder and moved them deep into town, at last allowing them to emerge just outside one of the older shopping district buildings.
Rogue couldn't faze between walls, unfortunately, meaning they had to wait until none were looking before sneaking into the store. They stayed out of sight of the store owner, grabbing cloaks that were bundled up, and then headed back out, flinging their cloaks on.
The clothes they wore already were worn and dirty yet undeniably Imperial. Not an uncommon sight, sure, but still not something they wanted eyes on.
The black towers of the Empire stood much taller down in the town than Sting anticipated. They loomed, imposing themselves from wherever Sting and Rogue were.
"Let's stick together," Rogue said. "We may cover less ground, but we'll attract less attention."
"Fine by me," Sting said. "Let's check the guild hall."
The thoroughfare was lined with active shops and townsfolk who paid no heed to the new travelers. Once, they would have all turned their heads and waved.
Once, and only once, the thoroughfare was a sight of absolute carnage. It was hell. Fires were everywhere, screams filled the entire night. Smoke blinded Sting, Rogue, and all of Sabertooth who stood before the full ground forces of the Twilight Empire in a desperate stand that broke them.
They arrived at the rubble of the guild hall, completely untouched after three years. All that came to occupy it were weeds and small shrubs growing over the stone as if the earth were trying to hide its shame in the guild.
"Anyway to get in there, you think?" Sting asked.
"If there is, Kagura would have exploited it," Rogue said.
Sting sighed. Moving the rocks would be easy. Two quick problems were evident, though: One, it would cause a great scene.
And two…Sting was unsure he had the heart for it.
"No," Sting said.
Rogue glanced at him, then back to the rubble. Hopefully, his thoughts were similar: the guild hall was already ruined, already disrupted, all because of their action.
Let it sit.
Let it rot.
"They always enjoyed the small market two blocks away," Rogue said. "Let's check there."
"Agreed."
Rogue stepped away but Sting stayed behind a moment. Even the wind seemed to try pushing him away, but he couldn't move.
He recognized some of the stone as the tower where he and Yukino first had a conversation. He'd always eyed her from across the way during meetings, curious about the white-haired girl with all those fancy keys. She always kept to herself.
Until, at last, Sting decided to approach her.
"So, what kinda magic do you do?" Sting asked.
Yukino glowered at him. "What?"
"White magic?"
"I'm not going to repeat myself."
Sting had been a bit taken aback. He'd seen why some, if not most, were distant toward this girl. She had some bite.
"I'm the White Dragon Slayer," Sting said. "I eat White Magic. We do that. I also like regular food. Anyway, I was wondering; if we're ever in combat, or in a tag team situation, and you have White Magic, it'd be a great way of keeping me powered up."
Yukino flashed her two Zodiac Keys, holding Spirits Sting would not only become familiar with, but friendly with.
"This my magic, Celestial Spirit magic," Yukino said. "Nothing you can eat."
"Celestial, huh? Sucks I'm not a Celestial Spirit Wizard, you seem to have enough magic power in those keys to keep my belly full!"
"I wouldn't let you eat my magic," Yukino said and stormed off.
It'd only be a few days later when, during a training mission, Sting and Yukino would be forced together on a team against Minerva and Jiemma, working in tandem to test their skills.
"I wish..." Yukino muttered as Sting found the strength to stand, "that I could…feed you my magic, and help us win…"
Sting shut his eyes, and took a step back. His foot scraped over the stone that'd been his home, where he met his friends, where he found his strength, and where he fell in love. Even if that love came to him in the deep throes of the night, against an enemy impossibly more powerful than them.
That night, as they stared down certain death, Yukino and Sting embraced one another fully, coming together as one body, one mind, one heart, pronouncing their love for one another that would fade as the building toppled around them.
Only, then, they lived and saw through that promise.
Until a mere fortnight ago, when Sting, for the first time in years, found himself alone. Truly alone.
He whispered another apology to Yukino that would never reach her ears, and stepped down from the rubble.
However, doing so did cause a disturbance.
Sting landed right next to a cart that was getting pushed down the street. Rogue managed to stop it in time from hitting Sting.
"Watch it!" the driver shouted.
Sting, his thoughts in flux and his emotions running the gamut cocked his head at the driver and raised his arm. A magic circle formed in front of his hand and magic poured into it.
"You watch it," Sting said.
Rogue lowered his arm. "Calm down."
"No way," the driver said.
Others in the cart quickly got out, too. Not a family, but a small company of salesmen, each dirty from the long days' work.
"Sting!"
The name echoed.
"Rogue!"
The name rang.
Doors all about the street opened. People's heads turned in curiosity.
Sting's heart pounded. Rogue lowered Sting's hand to his side and let go of it, but did not create more distance between the two of them.
"How long has it been?" some asked.
To Sting's imperial eyes, they were peasants, hardly worth his time. To his old eyes, they were just average, everyday people, somehow still alive despite the carnage. Somehow, their stores and the road survived all the fighting.
"Three years," breathed the driver. "Three…three years!"
He rushed the two. Sting and Rogue broke apart as he roared and swung his fists at where they'd been. The crowd quickly formed around them in a circle, unbreakable, and fuming.
"What are you thinking?" Sting asked.
"Stand down," Rogue said.
"Like you did?" a townsperson asked.
That shut Sting and Rogue up.
"You abandoned all of us," the driver said, still huffing. "You joined up, took the high road, and left all of us to clean up after you. Do you know how many we lost that night? Do you know how long it took for us to be able to even clean up?"
"You had your chance to join."
"As if we had any other choice!" another shouted.
"We can't leave our home past sundown. My son has been in prison for weeks because he forgot a shirt outside!"
"I can't afford food!"
"I lost everything when the guild hall collapsed!"
"You're part of the Twilight Empire, you are more than this!" Sting shouted, trying to summon the Captain he'd once been.
"Oh, we're a part of your Empire," the driver said. "We're one of their great towns, and look at it! Look around!"
Gazania was a marvel.
Built on the backs of the tired, the starving, the dying…the dead.
When the guild hall collapsed under its own weight after the siege weapons broke through their defenses, calamity swept the town. Sting knew it. Rogue knew it. Yukino knew it, too.
And they all did nothing. After hours on the front lines, after putting up the greatest fight they could, they retreated and never looked back.
Never again did Sting fight for Gazania. He fought for, only, the Twilight Empire.
"What were we to do?" Rogue asked.
"Fight back!"
"And die!' Sting shouted.
"We had no more magic, we had nothing more to do," Rogue said.
"None of us had magic, and we've fought day in, day out," the driver said. "Way more than you have."
"Get out of here!" a voice called. "You're not welcome!"
Sting sucked in a sharp breath. Not welcome? How many times did the town gladly accept him, and how many times was he called their great hero?
"Do you even know who we are?" Sting roared.
"Do you?" the driver shouted.
Words fell flat from Sting. Rogue searched around. Movement in Sting's peripheral told him everything. They were causing a commotion. The Empire hated commotions.
"We need to go," Rogue whispered.
"Agreed," Sting said. "Get us out of here."
Rogue clasped his shoulder. The two vanished, out of sight of the mayhem, yet not out of mind by any stretch of the imagination.
They didn't discard their cloaks—word couldn't possibly travel so fast—but did clamber onto the roof of a taller building and press themselves against it away from the main thoroughfare.
Rogue inspected their surroundings.
"Nothing," he said after a few minutes passed.
They moved across the rooftops, checking two more locations before Sting kicked off part of the roof they were on in frustration.
"So then they're just not here," he said and swore.
"It was always a guess," Rogue said. "Wait…Sting, is that…"
"Where the hell did they get to?" Sting muttered. "Where'd Kagura take—"
"Sting."
Rogue gestured and folded his arms. Sting followed where Rogue was looking.
Hidden, poorly, beneath a cloak a tad too small and talking among some of the destitute townsfolk was a hulking man wearing fresh scars and a serious expression, while he also had, about him, a warmth. He wore bandages up his arm, and a small mask about his face, but there was no doubting the scent he wore, one that the two were trained to recognize.
The Wizard Saint, Iron Rock Jura, was in Gazania.
Sting fought every instinct he had not to go right down and attempt to arrest Jura, the known rebel. He had to actually hold Rogue back from doing the same.
He was supposed to be afraid of a Wizard Saint's power, he was supposed to be cautious in a fight with him. None of that held him back. He and Rogue, together, could take him. That loss to Gray and Natsu was a fluke.
Yukino's voice ran through his head. It infuriated him, it ate at his mind, but it gave him complete pause.
"Shackled by the will of another," she'd said when he had the opportunity to take out Kagura, just like he did with Jura right in front of them.
Shackled by the Empire. By the expectations placed on them.
Jura was surrounded on all sides by innocent people already damaged by the Empire's lust for power. They'd be further harmed by Sting's lust for recognition and redemption, in the eyes of a system that already was more than willing to toss him aside.
They knew all about Zash Caine's rise. How the Empire could care less about Sting and Rogue, and probably wanted them dead. One moment, they were the great Captains of the Empire's most famous division. The next? They were crawling through mountains.
If they defeated Jura and brought him back…what would that accomplish? One less rebel?
The Empire was no doubt willing to sacrifice Gazania in exchange for a wizard saint.
Sting remembered where the spot he once stood was once brimming with life. Festivals ran through that thoroughfare to change out the seasons. The parade of the first Grand Magic Games Sabertooth won ran through it. Sting likely stood exactly where Jura was years ago, not thinking about the Twilight Empire, not fighting, not anything but how proud he was of the guild and of himself for making such strides.
Those people down there were nothing but happy. Then, in an instant, were stricken with raging fires, death, and then humiliation as Sting and Rogue and Sabertooth turned their back on the town and never looked back. Why bother with them when they had the easy road to the top of the ladder?
"Leave it," Sting said.
Rogue rested against Sting's arm.
"Let's go."
Rogue nodded. Sting sighed. Jura had no idea they were there, but word would spread, and it'd probably get Jura to move again. Too bad for the Empire, then.
They headed out of Gazania by way of Rogue's shadow, plunging north back into the forest. They'd reach another civilization eventually, and check around it for Kagura's hideout. For Frosch and Lector.
Until then, they traveled. To the naked eye, they weren't Dragon Slayers or Imperials or even wizards. They were a pair of nomads, not in search of home, but of whatever sheds of family they had left in the world.
The ominous towers of Gazania were immense, and somewhat intimidating, yet mostly a reminder that they had to keep moving. Kagura slid into the small hollow, nodding to Millianna who was busy playing cards with Lector while Frosch pranced about, senselessly as usual.
Kagura slung the back of restocked supplies across her back. Frosch hopped over to her.
"Come, Mill, we need to be moving," Kagura said.
"Oh? You're fast, Kagura!"
"Efficient. I was also able to see a map. We're not far from the Exceed valley, perhaps only a few days out at our rate."
"I'm excited to see a few more o' us," Lector said.
"Frosch wonders how they'll look," Frosch said.
"Like us."
"Lector doesn't look like Frosch."
Mill giggled and scooped both Exceeds up rather gleefully. Kagura followed Millianna out of the hollow, one hand on the supplies and the other on her sword, Archenemy, and surveyed the landscape.
In town, there'd been whispers. Kagura didn't hear them out all the way, but whispers of any kind were no good for her.
They had to keep moving. North was where the Exceed village lay, and north was where Frosch and Lector could at last have a shot at family.